Just over a year ago Erik Lamela was fearing the worst. All attempts to fix the problems with his hips had proved to be in vain. He'd travelled to different countries looking for a solution and they had all come up short. The Argentine feared his football career could be over.

The midfielder's last game before his problems came in October 2016 and he would not play again until November 2017 after surgery on both hips finally set him back on the road to recovery.

So for Lamela to be walking around that Wembley pitch, holding his six-month-old son up in his arms and enjoying the aftermath of a final match in which he scored twice and bagged an assist to rescue his team from the jaws of defeat, it was a great ending to a tough 18 months of his career.

The hard-working Argentine is one of those players who divides opinion among the Spurs fans, but few could deny him his moment on the final day.

The midfielder didn't seem to understand that the game meant very little in the grand scheme of Tottenham's season, but he seemed hell-bent on ensuring the club finished third in the table and he chased down the ball as if his life depended on it. He was pushed into a more central attacking role in the second half and it worked perfectly.

Erik Lamela enjoys the lap of honour with his son

I asked his manager what that end to his tough spell at the club would have meant to Lamela.

"It was important for him, a massive motivation," said Mauricio Pochettino. "His performance today was fantastic, scoring goals. I think it's a massive boost for him. Yes, I think fantastic.

"If you work hard every day in a tough season but finish in that way, always it's a massive thing for him."

Lamela will no doubt be linked with the exit door this summer, as he is every year, but he proved once again he has a part to play for Pochettino and his team-mates.

Lucas Moura celebrates with Harry Kane after the striker scored his first goal of the day

Lucas showing a glimpse of next season

One of Lamela's biggest competitors for a spot next season will be Lucas Moura and the Brazilian grasped his second Premier League start with both hands.

The winger has endured his own frustrating year. The 25-year-old barely featured for PSG in the first half of the season and since arriving at Spurs in January, Pochettino has eased him slowly into Premier League life, looking to improve his off the ball game while adapting to the manager's philosophy and his on-pitch minutes have not been plentiful.

For the Spurs boss, Lucas' signing was always about preparing a player for next season with a full pre-season to come and if he could deliver something in the mean time then it was a bonus.

Lucas has so far shown little glimpses of what he can do but with not too much end product. His first Premier League start, against Brighton, was the perfect example of that.

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However, against Leicester he delivered more of a snapshot at what the 2018/19 version of Lucas Moura will look like.

He worked hard to win the ball high up the pitch and set up Harry Kane for his first goal and then his clever back heel into the path of Lamela brought Tottenham's third goal of the afternoon.

The winger worked hard off the ball, playing on the left, winning headers and tackles and he scared the Foxes every time he swept forward with the ball. When he was substituted in the second half, the decision was booed by sections of the Wembley crowd.

There is plenty still to be worked on, but Lucas is going to face the hell of a Pochettino's pre-season in July and how he comes out the other side will determine whether he's a player the Spurs fans can really get excited about.

Jamie Vardy up against Toby Alderweireld

The case for the defence

Pochettino was careful to ensure it wasn't just the absence of Jan Vertonghen that was flagged up after the nine-goal mayhem that was Tottenham's final home match at Wembley.

Vertonghen had pulled up with a tight calf muscle in the warm-up before the game and prompted Eric Dier to move back alongside Toby Alderweireld.

"Look, it was a difficult game. We missed Jan and we missed Davinson [Sanchez]. They play regularly in the starting XI. They are important players for us, both," he said.

"That was a difficult game to judge individual performances. Always when the opponents has nothing to play for, they play freely and they came here only to enjoy. Of course these type of games can happen. I think it's not a point to judge too much, collective or individual."

But his point was still in there. He's been criticised for leaving Alderweireld out for much of 2018, preferring to play the 21-year-old Colombian alongside Vertonghen and it coincided with Tottenham's long unbeaten run in the Premier League during which they didn't lose a match in 2018 until April.

Jan Vertonghen warms up ahead at Wembley before his injury worry

Of course, that's not to say that playing Alderweireld alongside Vertonghen would not have produced similar results, but for Pochettino it's about earning the shirt and Sanchez, in his first season in England, has certainly done that.

Vertonghen was named the club's player of the year award by the supporters and had there been a young player of the year prize then Sanchez would probably have snared that.

It's become somewhat fashionable to play down his achievements in the past nine months and highlight any little mistake that comes with his age in order to praise Alderweireld. The fact is that they're both terrific players, and for Sanchez to have settled so well into Tottenham's defence and the English game without a pre-season says plenty about his potential going forward.

Sanchez came on 78 minutes into the game and Leicester did not score after he came on the pitch. He was not even meant to be in the Spurs squad, but that Vertonghen injury pushed him from 19th man to the bench.

This summer will reveal whether Vertonghen and Sanchez are to be the centre-back pairing going forward for Tottenham, but one thing is for sure, they were both missed for those first 78 minutes at Wembley.

Kyle Walker-Peters in action at Wembley

Kyle Walker-Peters proving his point

In one of football's little quirks, Kyle Walker-Peters' only two Premier League starts of the season came in the opening match of the season and it's last.

He impressed in both - voted man of the match at Newcastle back in August - and he was excellent against Leicester, both defensively and going forward, bagging two assists for Lamela goals and once again being voted man of the match.

That meant that Walker-Peters has contributed the same amount of assists (2) from his two starts as Serge Aurier has done in his 16 this season.

Walker-Peters, 21, must have thought he was on the verge of breaking through when his namesake Kyle Walker left last summer but Pochettino felt he needed more experience in that role, so Aurier was brought in from PSG for £24m.

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The Ivorian was labelled a fast, powerful full-back who would give opposition defences nightmares if he could keep his wild ways in check.

The truth is that while he's been thoroughly professional and has settled in well at the club, on the pitch Aurier has probably worried his own defence more than the one at the other end, with his trademark lunging tackles that have brought penalties and a derby red card.

He should improve of course - Pochettino has a way with full-backs - but Walker-Peters can claim that he offers pace and even more attacking threat and is the closest fit to being a Kyle Walker replacement. He perhaps just needs to add a bit of bulk to have the physical edge his namesake did.

It is of course a small sample to judge the 21-year-old on, but Walker-Peters has impressed with almost every opportunity he's been given in the league and cups - with only a tough 45 minutes at Newport the blot on his copybook.

This could be a big summer for both Walker-Peters and Aurier to see who develops the most to catch Pochettino's eye in pre-season.

Mauricio Pochettino and Jesus Perez wave to supporters after the final whistle

That press conference and the future

Pochettino sometimes comes into press conferences ready with a message he wants to convey and he waits carefully for the question that fits it best.

His message to end the season was very much a 'let's kick this up a notch next time around' and it will be music to the ears of the Tottenham fans while putting the ball firmly into chairman Daniel Levy's court.

"I have very clear ideas of what we need to do. I don't know if the club will agree with me or not, but we are going to talk next week to create the new project or what I think that we need to do together again to try to improve," he said.

"That is a little bit up to Daniel of course and the club to agree with us. I think after four years we need to assess that period and try to, if we want to play and be really contenders for big, big trophies, review a little bit the thing. It's fantastic today, all that we achieved but it will be so important to create again, assess all that happened and create a different, not project, but add different ideas to help the club to move on and be closer to win titles in the next few years."

I asked Pochettino if that meant splashing out on some more high profile signings this summer.

"First of all I need to speak to Daniel and the club. Then sure you are going to know what we are going to do. Until today it was so difficult to talk about the future. Of course from now we need to decide the way of how we are going to operate in the future.

"I think Daniel is going to listen to me of course. You know me, maybe sometimes I have crazy ideas. You need to be brave. In these types of situations, with a club with our unbelievable fans, being brave is the most important thing and take risks.

Mauricio Pochettino shows appreciation to the fans at Wembley

"It's a moment that the club needs to take risks and try to work if possible harder than the previous season to be competitive again. No for sure Daniel is going to listen to me and we can create together to help the team move on."

It certainly sounds positive for the chances of Pochettino sticking around for the long-term as long as he is confident he will get the backing he wants to take Tottenham to the next level.

The Argentine is confident in the knowledge that with a third consecutive top four finish he is truly Levy's goose that keeps laying him golden eggs. Spurs have overachieved this season even more so than the previous ones, playing 38 Premier League matches away from their Tottenham home and again finishing above Liverpool and Arsenal and this time Chelsea as well.

Only the two Manchester clubs with their hundreds of millions spent ended the season above Spurs.

The manager and his chairman will sit down next week and discuss the summer's strategy before Pochettino heads off to his home in Barcelona to recharge his batteries.

There must surely be a temptation for Levy that if Pochettino can deliver third place and a last 16 finish in the Champions League with a net spend that was lower than relegated Stoke City and West Brom, then it could just be a risk worth taking to deliver him a top choice or two from his transfer wish list to ensure Tottenham's first season in their new stadium will be something special.